Pastor's Corner - September 2016

President or Pastor?

As an ugly presidential race promises to get uglier, it’s apparent that many votes for each candidate will really be votes against the other candidate. There will be a lot of nose-holding in the voting booth. Dr. Chuck Harding of Awake America said, “One candidate is an assured catastrophe and the other is possible chaos”. Fine. In some ways I can’t disagree; neither candidate reminds me of George Washington. What puzzles me though, is to hear (and I’ve heard it numerous times), a Christian saying “I’m not going to vote” or “I’m going to vote my conscience”. Both expressions mean essentially the same thing - the moral high ground not voting, or a write-in vote for some hopelessly obscure candidate.

As Christians, do we really have to have a presidential candidate who fulfills the qualifications of a pastor (I Timothy 3)? U.S. history is full of examples of unsaved presidents who made good decisions, crafted sound policy and led the country in a fundamentally conservative direction. What Christians should weigh in the balance is what the effect of electing either candidate would have on our nation, and on our churches.

The Democrat running for president in 2016 has clearly announced she will extend Obama’s agenda. This includes massive federal spending, homosexual and transgender privileges, open borders, pro-abortion, weakened military, legalized marijuana, socialized medicine, pro-Muslim and anti-Israel foreign policy, emphasis on racial strife, and policies which encourage an open season on police who are presumed to be oppressors of minorities. If these are the policies you believe should guide our future, then that is the candidate you should vote for. The Republican candidate generally has the opposite views on those matters. If you agree with that view, that is who you should vote for.

Plenty is at stake. Two things stand out. First, Clinton is a Globalist and Trump is a Nationalist. That presents a clear choice to be made. Second, and most important is the issue of Israel, the apple of God’s eye. Trump has pro-Israel leanings while Clinton has (as Secretary of State) proven she will continue Obama’s drift away from friendly U.S. - Israel relations. Again a clear choice. Put another way: the Republicans have been sending us second-rate firemen, but the Democratic Party has given us some first-rate arsonists. Would you like to take your chances with the guy who is trying to use water to put out the fire, or the one who is dumping gasoline on the conflagration? Again, the choice is yours.

Who will win this election is anyone’s guess. One thing is for sure, in the end liberals will close ranks and vote for the Democrat. Maybe we, as Bible believing Christians, could learn something from our liberal fellow-Americans.

And the lord commended the unjust steward, because he had done wisely: for the children of this world are in their generation wiser thanthe children of light. Luke 16:8

On November 8th the country will be voting for a new president, not a new pastor. I think that we as Bible believing Christians should join them!